


the promposal

by funnylookinfella



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Domestic Avengers, F/M, Fluff, Maybe just friends maybe not, Prom, Tony is basically Peter's dad, ambiguous romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 19:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14527425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/funnylookinfella/pseuds/funnylookinfella
Summary: a terrified peter asks shuri to prom. t'challa and tony are supportive parental figures.(honestly mostly a test drive to see how good i am at writing for mcu. may elaborate on this idea later)





	the promposal

“What is prom?” Shuri didn’t even look up from the data pad she was tapping away at. “Is it somewhere we can be back from in half an hour or less? Because I still have a lot of work to do, Peter, and you know that. You’re the one who asked me if I had any ideas to upgrade your suit, I don’t understand—” 

“It’s a dance!” Peter blurted, which finally made Shuri look up, though her expression was less than impressed. “Uh, at my… my high school. But we’re allowed to bring girls from other schools, too! I mean, that is, people who date girls can bring girls from other schools. People who date guys can probably bring them, too. Anyway, I just thought, since we’ve been hanging out and having fun and stuff, maybe you’d wanna… go with me?” 

“A dance?” Shuri crossed her arms over her chest and turned to face Peter. “What is the occasion of this dance? No one has dances for no reason.” 

“The dance is the reason! It’s like… high school tradition,” Peter tried to explain. “For the seniors, mostly, but juniors can come too. Lots of juniors do.” 

Frowning, Shuri picked the pad up again and saved what she was working on. “And why do you want to go to this dance?” 

“Cause… all my friends are going? And everybody else? So I’m gonna go anyway, and I’d have a lot more fun if you were there.” Oh, god, why did he say that? He felt his face turn brick red, and Shuri must have seen it too, because she broke into a laugh. 

“Okay, okay, fine. I will go to this ‘prom’ with you. When is it?” 

“Next Saturday!” Peter grinned. “That gives us time to get a dress and a tux and stuff.” 

“A dress?” Shuri wrinkled her nose. “I’m guessing comfortable dresses are frowned upon. American women don’t seem to enjoy comfort at formal events.” 

“You can wear something comfortable if you want,” Peter said quickly. “And, y’know, you don’t even have to wear a dress if you want. You can show up in pants and a t-shirt for all I care. I’d wanna take you anyway.” 

“So you’re going to be wearing a suit?” 

“Yeah.” He gave her a bashful smile. “I kinda want to. I’ve never worn one before. I think they make guys look cool. All suave, like James Bond.” 

“I would not go so far as to compare yourself to James Bond, Peter.” Shuri gave him a playful shove. “Besides, Bond made Q do all his thinking for him. You’re better than that, surely.” She shook her head with a grin and went back to her work. “I will see about a dress. But I’m not wearing high heeled shoes, Peter Parker. Not unless I get to see you wearing them, too.” 

“No worries.” Peter held up his hands in mock surrender. “No heels necessary.” He watched as she gathered the pad and a few more pieces of equipment into her arms and went to leave the room. When she’d left, He punched the air, swinging his hips in a victory dance.

“What are you doing?” 

Ah, shit, she wasn’t gone. He froze as she came back in to grab a bundle of clear wire she’d forgotten, watching him as if he was some sort of street performer that might start moving and attack her at any moment. 

“Don’t let me stop you. As you were, Spider-Man.” 

He grinned and started dancing again, watching as she let the door slide shut nonchalantly behind her.

\- 

It was soon after that Peter realized he’d never been to a school dance since homecoming, and that hadn’t exactly been the classic high school experience he’d hoped it would be. Before that, he and Ned had always stayed home playing Minecraft or watching Game of Thrones when dances were happening, and they didn’t think they were missing out on much of anything. He wasn’t entirely sure that his homecoming experience was something he’d want to use as a model for this one, and if he wanted to change that, he’d have to ask someone in Avengers HQ he could trust. Someone who treated ladies right. Someone who would tell him how to have the classiest, most memorable prom experience he could hope to give Shuri. 

“Mr. Stark?” 

“Yeah, what is it, kid?”

“Oh, phew, I was starting to think I was doomed to always walk in on people doing life-or-death important things.” 

“Parker, this is the most life-or-death important thing you could have possibly caught me doing,” Tony said, leaning over the kitchen counter and peering at his laptop propped open on the island. 

“Oh. Sorry, I assumed that since you were in the kitchen and not like…” Peter trailed off as he came up behind Tony. “Wait a second. That’s the Pizza Hut website.” 

“Yep. You have any idea how complicated Point Break’s order is? No sauce, all the meat on the whole menu except chicken, twice the beef and three times the bacon. I’m just ordering him a meat lover’s.” 

“Can I talk to you about something?” Peter interjected, leaning on the island and peering at Tony over his laptop screen. “It’s important, I promise. Almost as important as pizza.” 

“Doubtful.” 

“I asked Shuri to go to prom with me.” 

“She doesn’t even go to your school. She’s smarter than some of the teachers at your school. Actually, scratch that, smarter than all the teachers at your school. She should be teaching your teachers.”

“I know.” Peter couldn’t help but grin fondly. “But we can bring people from other schools.” 

“Oh, so Wakanda is another school now? That’s a big student body. T’Challa looks like he might have been held back a few years but that’s none of my business.” Tony closed the laptop case and went to pour himself a drink. 

“I need your help.” 

“With what?” 

“I don’t know… what kind of suit do I get? How do I know what corsage to get? What color her dress is? Is it like getting married, where I’m not allowed to see it? Oh, god, what if I get her an ugly corsage? Wait, I have to get one for me too, right? What if the color I like isn’t the color that she likes?” 

“Alright, alright, slow down.” Tony reached across the island and put both hands on Peter’s shoulders. “The good news is that everyone’s gonna forget about this in five years so even if you screw up it’s not gonna matter a whole lot on a cosmic scale. The bad news is that the school year’s not over yet, so if you do screw up, everyone’s gonna laugh at you until you graduate.” 

Peter nodded, swallowing hard. “So what do I do, Mr. Stark?” 

“Well, first, we’re gonna go get you a tux.” 

\- 

“I don’t understand the point of this,” Shuri grumbled, picking at the tulle on various dresses in the formal wear section of Macy’s. “Why buy a dress that you only wear once? And you wear it celebrating the fact that you aren’t going to school anymore soon. Why would you celebrate not learning things?” 

“There is university after that, Shuri,” T’Challa pointed out, as they wandered around the displays so that Shuri could scoff at every one of them. 

“Yes, but they make them pay for it. That hardly counts. They have to pay to learn things so that they can get a job and get paid, and then they have to pay back what they paid with the money they’re making by paying for the things they need to learn to get paid.” She shook her head. “It makes no sense.” 

“But you still want to go.” It wasn’t a question, more of an observation. Shuri pressed her lips together and huffed out a sigh. 

“Yes, I still want to go. Because I enjoy spending time with Peter, and this is what he wants to do. And if it means this much to him…” She trailed off, scowling a little. “Then I will buy a silly dress. But it will not be uncomfortable! I’ve already told him.” Looking at a white wrap dress hanging from a circular rack, she paused. “Wait, are we expected to match?” 

“You will match,” T’Challa assured her. “White boys in America wear only black to these occasions, or so it seems. It would not be wrong to assume that Peter will as well.” Shuri looked unimpressed at the notion but nodded. They kept looking for a while until Shuri had a few contenders. One had no zipper and simply slipped on, and she admired the ease of it. Another was flowing and dramatic, which ordinarily didn’t suit her, but it looked quite roomy and comfortable. The last candidate was bright and bejeweled, and although it was a little bit itchy in the chest, she liked the way it looked. 

“So it is between the three of these,” she said to T’Challa, holding them up over her torso one by one. He shook his head. 

“No, you must try them on to see if they fit properly.” 

“I know my clothing size, brother. They will fit.” 

“Another thing about America, according to Nakia,” he said, taking all three dresses on their hangers from her. “Sizes are different between the companies that make the clothing. Particularly for women, she says. No, you must try them on.” 

Shuri was nearly ready to buy all three dresses if it meant not having to stay any longer, but she grudgingly took the dresses back from T’Challa and went to look for the dressing rooms. “Fine. But while I am doing this, you will go find me some shoes to wear. And no sandals,” she added, when he started to grin. 

By the time she had chosen a dress, they were in line with Shuri’s choice, as well as a pair of classic white sandals for her to wear.

-

“Do I look good?” Peter asked, staring at himself in the mirror. “I mean, do I look… do I look like James Bond?” 

“What? No, why would you wanna look like James Bond? Q did all the thinking for him.” Tony turned him around and straightened his lapels, standing back and squinting. “And you’re totally attached to this bowtie no matter how nerdy it looks?” 

“Yes.” Peter nodded. “I think it looks more fancy than a regular tie. And the point is to be fancy, right?” 

“Sure.” Tony gave his shoulder a pat. If Peter didn’t know any better, he’d think he was nervous for him. Checking his watch, Tony nodded decisively. “Alright. Time to get going. C’mon, they’re already out front.” 

“Uh, yeah, that’s another question, why is she waiting out front if we’re both staying here?” Peter asked as Tony started pulling him after him. 

“Because, kid, there’s nothing less romantic than going down an elevator together just staring at each other.” Oh god, Peter realized. Tony was going full dad on him. He only hoped Shuri was getting the same treatment from T’Challa, or this would be embarrassing.

When they got outside, Peter saw that she was, indeed, getting some embarrassing big brother treatment. T’Challa was standing behind her and fixing her hair, tucking a braid back into place. She looked amazing in a shorter dress, which Peter should really have seen coming, a halter bodice covered in a pattern of shiny beads that tied up in a knot at the back of her neck. Her hair was braided and gathered up on the top of her head, glinting with beads like the ones on her dress, and even though Peter had seen the Wakandan jewelry she had on before, it seemed a lot different attached to this look. 

“Um, wow.” He blinked, and she smirked at him. She knew how pretty she looked, and Shuri was definitely not the bashful sort. Peter saw her lean back toward T’Challa.

“You were right. He’s dressed very boring.” 

“Hey.” Peter looked down at his tux, which seemed perfectly respectable. “I just wanted to make sure I was matching your dress, okay?” 

She smiled at him. “Okay.”

They got into the back of the limo Tony had summoned for them, and as much as he and T’Challa wanted to get in after them and see them off, they managed to hold themselves back. As the sleek black car left the headquarters, T’Challa sighed. 

“I told him no funny business,” Tony assured him. 

“I told her to go for the funny business,” T’Challa said. Tony turned his head slowly to look at him, expecting the deadpan look of sarcasm but getting a cheeky grin instead. They both laughed as they headed back inside, leaving the teen experience to the teens.


End file.
